Nexon Vancouver closes?

I'm pretty sure most of you have already heard about Nexon's Vancouver-based development studio(Humanature Studios) closing down. If not here's the link.

I, for one having a hard time believing this seeing as they won the "2008 Best Companies to work for in B.C. award". Link Link2 They also seem to have a really good relationship with Nexon judging from their website and it still says they're hiring. I just can't see them closing down this studio.

If anyone from Vancouver wants to check out their (closed?)studio, here's their address:

 Spoiler

840 Cambie St. 3rd fl.
Vancouver BC Canada
V6B 2P4

If they are indeed closing down, I wish the 90 or so workers best of luck.

One last thing, from what I can tell the Vancouver studio is mostly responsible for Sugar Rush.

Website:
http://www.humanaturestudio.com/index.html

*Looks at Kotaku link*

 Spoiler

Sorry couldnt resist.


Yeah, I feel bad for them too though, and I agree, it seems they were largely responsible for sugar rush, though the article says it wont have any effect on the games' curent status'

well, first... nexon itself had very little if ANYTHING to do with nexon canada/humanature, they only provided the funding and hired Alex Garden, (previously of Company of Heroes developer Relic Entertainment) to get the studio going. human nature also didnt have much to do with sugar rush, the game is by a different studio (Klei interactive), though they aided in development though as far as the manual work its been credited to Klei.

Of course in typical nexon fashion, they pull funding and close the company a few months after it really hits its stride (it typically takes a year + for a studio to get running with a solid team, even a small project takes a year+). It really is a waste, this is nexons only outside venture (from its korean developmers) into a different market/ideas, which is why its also puzzling why nexon would pull the plug on the project after throwing money into it and only getting... sugar rush?

personally it makes me wonder of nexons financial situation, you have to think of the real economic situation going on, most retailers reported 20-30% sales declines in the past 2 months, during a holiday season... this is for items like clothes, dvds, video games, tv's... items that are necessitates and top entertainment choices for most average consumers.

that said, online retail sales had a worse drop in the past two months and considering that were seeing video game companies being effected, which have for the most part proved ression proof for the last 25 years, its not far off to say sales may be way off normal for nexon. even a stable company can have trouble making pay roll and no one is going to invest in a dinky online game company right now, raising money to cover short term losses would also be a problem for companies like nexon at a time like this.

sadly for nexon they offer nothing of real value that cant be replicated when times are good again, brands the size of kartrider and maplestory can disappear in a time like this, much larger and well known ones are.

Development studio Nexon Vancouver, also known as Humanature Studios, has been shut down by Korean parent company Nexon (MapleStory), which focuses on free-to-play MMOs.

The story was first reported by weblog Kotaku, and was independently verified by Gamasutra with development sources close to the company.

All 90 employees at the studio are said to have been let go -- the latest in an ongoing string of game industry closures over the last several months.

The Vancouver-based group had not released any of its own games, although it was involved in Klei Entertainment's forthcoming PC online title Sugar Rush, which has been Beta testing and is published by Nexon North America.

Humanature served as Nexon's Canadian development headquarters, and was headed up by Alex Garden, known for co-founding successful PC game developer Relic Entertainment (Homeworld, Company of Heroes). He had already been a Nexon advisory board member for five years before joining the studio.

In an interview with Garden posted on Humanature's website in 2008, Nexon said that the Canadian studio was aiming to become "North America’s leading center for online game development, with a focus on products that speak powerfully to the North American audience."

Nexon still retains a North American office in Los Angeles, which is primarily focused on localization and creating Western-focused content for Nexon's existing games.

[UPDATE: In a statement to the press, Nexon spoke about the decision to close the Vancouver-based studio, crediting the "rapidly changing economic climate."

"This was a difficult decision, particularly given the hard work and dedication of the staff," says the company. "However, it is a necessary decision, given today’s economic landscape and the need to secure Nexon’s core business for the long term."

"Nexon remains committed to publishing high quality, free-to-play online games for the North American market and our Los Angeles-based teams will continue to work on our existing titles as well as upcoming titles for 2009."]